Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Amazing service - digital passport application

116 replies

Figmentofmyimagination · 14/01/2023 07:47

I’m so impressed by this new service to renew my passport. Completed in a week, start to finish. I had to go and have a digital photo taken in a shop and they gave me a code to input into my online application, so no need anymore for tiny photos of me countersigned by a neighbour with a worthy job eg solicitor etc who has known me for years and says it’s really me. Instead I just filled in the online application, inserted the code and paid online, posted off my old passport, and got the new one through my front door in under a week, with text updates at every stage. Very impressed.

OP posts:
OMG12 · 20/01/2023 18:51

Well it’s an improvement on last year where it took over 4 months to get mine back, nearly gave me a nervous breakdown daily calls, booking a flight I was never getting on, involvement of my MP, formal complaint and GDPR request (which they failed to meet).

Elvira2000 · 20/01/2023 18:53

I agree. I thought the whole process was so great it was going to write an email of praise (forgot).

Sumlove · 20/01/2023 18:57

I did my DDs online - first passport and it went through no probs taken on my phone. My renewal photo taken with my phone they didn't like so I used an app (there is an app for everything isn't there!) that makes it 'passporty'. They email your counter signatory and it was so quick and simple! I also counter sign passports for friends, and it's so easy now its all online!

userxx · 21/01/2023 09:09

Do the passport office keep sending texts to remind you to send your old passport or is it just one text ?

RampantIvy · 21/01/2023 09:39

I had a couple of emails, but my passport arrived only two days after posting it second class so the emails stopped.

AuntieMarys · 21/01/2023 09:40

Just applied for my renewal online ( and change of name) So simple with the photo codes

userxx · 21/01/2023 10:27

Perfect!!! I posted mine second class too and have had Ione reminder text so am hoping they’ve received it.

userxx · 21/01/2023 11:43

RampantIvy · 21/01/2023 09:39

I had a couple of emails, but my passport arrived only two days after posting it second class so the emails stopped.

So did they email saying they'd received your old passport ? The checker is still saying send your old passport.

RampantIvy · 21/01/2023 12:01

So did they email saying they'd received your old passport ? The checker is still saying send your old passport.

Yes. I received a passport received email, a passport approved email, a passport printed email and an email reminding me to sign my passport as soon as I receive it. I didn't need to track my application because I was notified about each step along the way.

userxx · 21/01/2023 12:07

RampantIvy · 21/01/2023 12:01

So did they email saying they'd received your old passport ? The checker is still saying send your old passport.

Yes. I received a passport received email, a passport approved email, a passport printed email and an email reminding me to sign my passport as soon as I receive it. I didn't need to track my application because I was notified about each step along the way.

Thank you. Hopefully I'll receive a text soon saying it's been received.

SUBisYodrethwhenLarping · 21/01/2023 12:12

Great news we are about to renew ours

CorporateBull · 21/01/2023 14:24

RampantIvy · 21/01/2023 12:01

So did they email saying they'd received your old passport ? The checker is still saying send your old passport.

Yes. I received a passport received email, a passport approved email, a passport printed email and an email reminding me to sign my passport as soon as I receive it. I didn't need to track my application because I was notified about each step along the way.

Watch out for this. We got the reminders and then they stopped, two weeks after we’d posted the old one, so we assumed all was well. But in fact they just stop sending reminders over Christmas, so our old passport hadn’t arrived and the reminders resumed. If you haven’t had an email from them two weeks after sending your documents off, give them a ring, and also check your tracking with Royal Mail.

@OMG12 definitely an improvement. We only got as far as the many phone calls and the complaint to our MP before it got sorted.

userxx · 21/01/2023 14:38

@CorporateBull I didn't use Royal Mail tracking. Wish I had now!

CorporateBull · 21/01/2023 14:47

Fingers crossed. It’s clear from this thread that we had an unfortunate experience compared to most, but there are still plenty of people out there with stories to tell of it all going wrong, and the documents are the most manual bit and therefore the biggest potential for errors. At least if you’re quicker to realise if things go wrong, you can start sorting it out. Reporting it lost if you need to should mean the whole process gets going again.

Cheshiresun · 21/01/2023 15:08

You were lucky. My basic of basic renewals took 2 weeks. That is still good but when you hear of people getting then back within 3 days, it just sounds like pot luck!

sst1234 · 21/01/2023 15:16

It’s not much of a bar after or a particularly high standard. Especially after the disastrous service from the passport office where people actually missed their travel plans last year.

fairgame84 · 21/01/2023 15:21

I renewed first week of January, with a name change due to marriage. It's been printed already, no countersign needed.

Once it's back I need to apply for DDs first passport, hopefully before the fees go up next month. I don't know if DDs will be as straightforward as DH is a foreign national.

cravingtoblerone · 21/01/2023 20:13

Glad it's improved. But I would advise people not to take this kind of swift service at HMPO for granted...

We waited 11 weeks for DS's passport renewal last year only for HMPO to admit it was lost in the system. Had to get the train to Peterborough, my own expense, and hang around for 8 hours waiting for them to rush through one because we were due to fly within a few days. I was on crutches at the time and was stressed and uncomfortable the whole time. Wasn't even a vending machine at the passport office to get a drink....

willstarttomorrow · 21/01/2023 20:23

I have just renewed DC' s passport. It runs out in March but you now need 3 months to travel to Europe. We used the Post office service where you just turn up with the old passport and they do everything, including taking the photo. I think it cost about an extra £16 (DC just turned 16 so first adult passport). That was last Tuesday and it was delivered yesterday. Really happy with the service (and tbh always have been, including when I had to travel to Durham for a fast track for us both when stolen during a house break in).

Over 10 years it only works out at just over £9 a year- using this service. I appreciate how expensive it is for a family who all apply at the same time though!

amaryllis134 · 21/01/2023 21:50

not sure why anyone would go to the hassle of going to a photo booth. You can take a selfie and they tell you if it's good enough or if you need to take another. So simple!

RampantIvy · 22/01/2023 08:30

I'm rubbish at taking selfies because I'm not in the habit of doing so. I happened to be in a shopping centre where there was a Max Spielman, and was happy to pay a professional to do a much better job than DH or I could.

userxx · 22/01/2023 09:26

amaryllis134 · 21/01/2023 21:50

not sure why anyone would go to the hassle of going to a photo booth. You can take a selfie and they tell you if it's good enough or if you need to take another. So simple!

I tried loads of times to take a passport photo with my phone, I felt like launching it through the window by the end of it.

TheYearOfSmallThings · 22/01/2023 09:27

We found this service to be really quick and convenient too - I was positively surprised.

Boomboom22 · 22/01/2023 09:31

If using a phone move away from the wall a bit so you don't get the shadows.

bestbefore · 22/01/2023 09:39

@amaryllis134 you can't take a selfie! It reverses your image. You'd have problems going through the egates if you do. (I think!)